CHENNAI, October 19: The maiden bharathanatyam performce of five students of Priya Raghavan will be held on the evening of October 23 at Krishna Mahal, GST Road, Chengalpattu.

The five students are: S. Sridevi (8 years), N. Nithyalakshmi (11 years), D. Madhumitha (10 years), B. Kowshika (12 years) and S. Saraswathi (13 years).

Senior actor Dilli Ganesh, Member of Parliament P. Viswanathan and Chief Reporter of Dinamalar R. Rangaraj Pandey will be guests of honour on the occasion.

The dance performance will be held under the auspices of Vinayaka Natyalaya, an institution founded by Smt Priya Raghavan. The primary objective of this institution is to take this ancient art form to rural India and make it a mass-based one. She has been teaching bharathanatyam in places such as Singaperumal Koil, Thirukalukundram, Mahabalipuram, Thelimedu, Maraimala Nagar et al. According to her, over 300 students are part of Vinayaka Natyalaya.